Overall Member Rating

7 Days on the Valor

We are platinum members so we have some cruise experience. My wife is retired and I still work in education. This limits the time we can travel. We booked this cruise through Carnival and probably should have booked air through them. We paid $1000.00 for a round trip on Jet Blue. JFK to San Juan. We arrived at SJU on the 25th at 2 pm. We had a problem my wife needed a wheelchair and we waited 40 minutes at the entrance to the ship to get one. I had to go to the platinum representative to finally get one. Our agent from Carnival was useless and we will never use him again. Requested a large table got a table for 4. Was supposed to get an on board credit... nope. Was supposed to get a fare reduction or credit no. Needless to say I will use an online agency now when booking.

Now for the cruise itself: Once we got onboard it was very familiar. Same Carnival decor. Our cabin was an inside on deck 7 not too far from the midship elevators. My wife had rented a scooter for mobility More
and it was very handy. We like to eat in the main dining room when possible. We ate most meals when possible in the Washington Deck 3. Service and food were good. On Tuesday our sea day we ate at Scarlett's Steak House. I know its $35.00 per person but we were celebrating our friends' 20th wedding anniversary. I know steakhouses having eaten many times at fine steakhouses across the country.This was truly exceptional probably one of the 5 best meals I have ever had.

Now for the condition of the ship. Carnival needs to really think about getting this ship retrofitted soon. In our cabin we had that old style tv. The floor in the bathroom sagged in the middle. I thought it would give way and I would end up on deck 6. Anyone who has traveled on a Carnival ship knows what the cabin color scheme is that gold and orange its been the same for a long time.

The shows were OK. They have eliminated 4 male dancers so they now have 4 male and 8 female. Didn't like the comics. The Shore excursions in each port were good but much too expensive with 4 ports over $500.00. From now on we will use private companies. The islands are all beautiful. Our favorite by far was St. Lucia. It is truly like Tahiti. Did not get off the ship in St. Martin. Been there before. The water is amazing clear aqua and more salty than the water on Long Island. We came home Sunday and booked our next cruise this time out of New York. Once again we have to wait till school's out in February. A nice time to get away from winter. Less